null.

PRINCIPAL KNOWLES - THREE

I laughed, "Thank you?" She was actually a lot more funny than I thought she would be.

"While I'm in here..." She smiled. "How about that lunch I asked you about earlier?"

I was going to sit in my office alone and eat a salad, so going out for lunch definitely sounded good.

"Today is actually perfect, but I have no clue what's good around here so you'll have to pick the place."

"Oh, I forgot you're new to the area. But that's even better, I can show you a new place. What are you feeling like? Something on the fancier side or a hole in a wall?"

"Um..." I went to grab my purse and phone while I thought about what I wanted. "Nothing fancy." I didn't feel dressed for anything fancy, I felt very teacher-y while wearing light brown pants and a light brown cardigan over a whore blouse.

"Okay." She held my classroom door open for me so I walked first and led the way to the teacher parking garage. "Is it okay if I drive us?"

"Sure." I didn't see why not.

Multiple kids stopped to talk to her or say hello but we eventually made it out of the school and to her Cadillac Escalade that was always parked in the principal. It was embarrassingly hard to get into the car because of how big it was.

We listened to music and made small talk while she drove to wherever we were going. She never told me and I didn't ask.

We eventually pulled up to a Mexican restaurant and I wasn't mad at the choice. It was early afternoon on a weekday so there were only a couple other people besides us in there.

I only got a water since I knew she would probably end up paying whether I wanted to or not.

"Soo...." She briefly looked up from the menu and smiled at me. "How have you been liking things so far? Is there anything that I could do to make your job any easier?"

"No, honestly everything is perfect." Even the Titan thing was expected just as a teacher, so I had no complaints. "I love it here."

"I'm really glad to hear that. How are you feeling about Houston as a whole? I know you've made a big move."

"Well it's definitely not New York. It feels like pretty much everything is different around here, but I needed the change from my old life so I'll learn to get used to it."

"Hm. I don't mean to pry but-"

I already knew exactly what she was going to ask. "He was crazy and a habitual cheater. Lying was like breathing to him." But my final straw with him was catching him messing with my birth control to try to get me pregnant. That was psychotic behavior.

"Oh." She laughed. "That'll do it."

I honestly appreciated how casual she was about it instead of feeling sorry for me. It made me feel less awkward about talking about it.

"You said you've been divorced too?" I remember when I first mentioned getting divorced she said 'we've all been there,' which I thought was hilarious.

"Twice to the same woman actually." She chuckled. "I told you liking women is treacherous."

"I actually dated one before. It was... yeah." Not for the weak at all.

Her eyebrows raised in surprise. "Oh really? I would say that's surprising but everyone's a little gay these days."

"I guess. Keke too apparently, which I didn't even know until I got here." I didn't fully know what I was talking about, but we were in my business so we could get in hers too.

She laughed, "What's that supposed to mean? Your tone makes it seem like you're implying something."

"I mean... you kissed her in front of me, didn't you?" I didn't know what to think of it at first but it actually made some of Kekes behavior regarding her a lot more sense.

"First of all, woah." She laughed again. "Saying I kissed her makes it sound like I actually kissed her. I gave her a little lip tap on her temple. I'm just an affectionate person and her and I are pretty close, that's all. Sometimes I feel like she has a little girl crush on me but it'll pass."

"Hm." I had a lot of thoughts but she was my boss at the end of the day so I kept them to myself.

Our waitress came back with our drinks and took our orders. She ordered a quesadilla and I got chicken tacos.

We changed the topic and it was actually a pretty nice lunch. We talked about our backgrounds and what made us want to get into our profession, and pretty much everything under the sun. She was such a genuine person and seemed like a good principal.

Thankfully, I had two free periods in a row because we completely lost track of time. I had no clue how but time flew by.

She drove us back to the school in a comfortable silence and just let the radio play. I hadn't checked my phone the entire time because I was so into our conversation so I spent most of the ride doing that.

Once we got back to the school, she decided to walk me all the way to my classroom. As we were walking there, we ran into Keke who was walking into our direction. "Hey? I just left your classroom, I was looking for you to say hey."

"Sorry, we went to lunch." I gave her a quick hug since it was my first time seeing her.

"Oh?" Keke turned to her. "That's fun."

"It was really fun, actually." Principal Knowles put her attention back onto me. "Ms.Maraj, I'll let you get prepared for your next class. I know I've already taken up a lot of your time. I enjoyed today."

I smiled. "Me too, thank you. I'll see you, see you Keke."

I waved to both of them and then made my way to the back of my room to prepare for the rest of the school day.

——

Onika?

Bey?

Keke?

—
—
—